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Epilogue
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Chapter 40: Epilogue (Aaron's POV)
Eight months later...
Paris?
Check.
London?
Check.
Hong Kong?
Check.
Colombia?
Check.
And now Venice?
Check.
"Where should we go next?" I asked, glancing at her.
She continued rocking our locked hands back and forth as we walked towards the middle of the Rialto bridge in Venice.
Today's our last day here. After three weeks, it's our last day, and tomorrow, our tickets for New York have been booked.
"Hmm, I don't know yet. What are you thinking?" she asked, glancing at me.
"I'm thinking... somewhere in Australia, since I've never been."
She hummed. "Sydney?"
"No. Maybe uh, Gold Coast?"
"Oh, Gold Coast sounds fun," she chuckled. "I like the way you think, Sinclair."
We stopped once we reached the middle of the bridge, both of us resting our elbows on the railing and staring at the water flowing below us, reflecting all the oranges and warm pinks from the sunset above us. I let go of her hand and moved to stand behind her, resting my hands on the railing while closing her in. I rested my chin on her shoulder, looking between the water and the sky.
It's been eight whole months and I have no idea what to make of that. It feels like time has just flown by but it also feels like it's been years. It feels like Vanessa and I have been like this, together like this, in love like this, for as long as we've known each other.
Things changed pretty quickly after we came back to New York from Hawaii. Two months after that, we both quit our jobs. I remember the first conversation we had about quitting and traveling, she was scared. She was hesitant and she wasn't ready to leave everything behind and travel. So we waited. I waited until she was ready and willing and the first one to say it. And then we dove in headfirst into the next chapter of our lives.
We had a long conversation with Davidson, a conversation that ended up putting Vanessa at much-needed ease.
"Whenever and if you two decide to come back and settle down in New York again, just remember that New Beginnings will always have a place for you," he told us.
I think it surprised all of us to see how emotional we were. Vanessa was most definitely crying on her last day at work. Davidson seemed pretty sad to watch us go, but he said it felt bittersweet.
"I always pictured you both leaving together like this," he said to me. "You came here together and you're leaving together yet your relationship is so different now. Take care of her. Take care of each other. And come visit every once in a while, hmm?"
"We will. We'll visit every time we're in New York," I replied.
"All the best, kiddo. Have fun."
From there, we took the next step. Leaving our apartments. Vanessa and I both bought an apartment, splitting the cost between us. We couldn't be paying regular rent if we wouldn't be here for months at a time, so we bought a bigger apartment. Together. And we moved in.
We spent only a few weeks settling there and planning our first trip together. Paris. Vanessa had never seen the city and coincidentally, my mother had a show coming up, so that was our excuse.
Theo and Blue were, unfortunately, handed over to Octavia and Roman. But on the bright side, we visit them pretty often. Vanessa misses her parents a lot more than she used to and she doesn't pass on any chance to go see them.
We've taken a few trips together now, some lasting longer than others. Our trip to Paris lasted two weeks. Two weeks of coffee at pretty cafés, the Eiffel Tower, art exhibitions, museums, and so much more. After that, we flew back to New York, rested for three weeks, which we spent finally decorating and organizing our apartment.
Then we booked a flight to London. We were in London for two weeks, exploring the city. Riding double-decker buses, riding the London eye, going to museums. We did it all. A few of Vanessa's college friends happened to be there too who got back in touch with her, so we all met a few times as well.
Then we came back to New York and rested for four weeks, during which we discussed our finances for the next trip, visited the office a few times like we did every time we came back home, and we also bought more things for the apartment.
Next, we went on a trip to Hong Kong. Vanessa was determined to go to Disneyland, claiming it was the best one and she had gone once as a kid. That trip was ten days. From Hong Kong, we went to Florida and stayed with her parents for three weeks and then from there to Colombia. On this trip, her parents had joined us. Vanessa's grandparents still lived in Colombia and so did quite a few of her cousins, so we had stayed with them. It was a big trip for us, I was meeting her entire family and I had a lot of people to impress. Yet somehow, she was more nervous than I was.
From Colombia, we went to New York, stuck up all our new pictures on the fridge, and then spent almost all our days lying in bed together, shopping together, decorating the apartment some more, and living together like we were always destined to.
By then, we figured this was the best way to travel. One trip, one city for every month. A new destination every month and then periods in between to rest, be together in our New York apartment, visit the office, and visit her family.
Now, our latest city to strike off the list is Venice. We spent the last three weeks in Venice, living life like citizens. That's the whole point of spending more than a week in these cities. Living in them like we belong here, experiencing all the different cultures, and seeing all the buzzing spots every day until our hearts' content.
Tomorrow, we're going back home to New York. The plan is to rest up, for how long, we're not sure yet. And where we're going next is still undecided.
I pulled away from Vanessa, snapping out of my thoughts when she spun around to face me, resting her arms around my neck. Her eyes went to the black baseball cap I had on and she took it off, pulling it on herself. "I'm really in love with you, you know," she mumbled, brushing my hair back.
"I'm going to marry you, you know," I replied.
She chuckled, putting my cap back onto my head. She pulled her phone out of her purse and went on her toes, looking behind me. "Let's get a picture," she said. I stepped back and she asked another couple who was passing by to take a picture of us if they could. "Thank you," she grinned at them and then came back to stand with me.
I put an arm around her waist while she went on her toes, smiling widely at the camera. I turned to look at her as she stumbled, losing her balance. I laughed, steadying her.
She faced me, chuckling as her cheeks went pink in embarrassment. "Sorry."
"I didn't mind," I mumbled. Her gaze met mine and we held it, neither one of us willing to break it.
"Here you go," the stranger announced, bursting our bubble.
"Thank you so much," Vanessa beamed, taking it from them and showing it to me. "Look at the sunset behind us," she gasped, spinning to watch it. She held onto her phone and as it lit up with a message, I managed to get a glimpse of her lock screen.
I took her phone, getting a better look at it. "When did you change it?" I asked, staring at it with a smile.
"What do you mean?" she mumbled absentmindedly, too absorbed by the beautiful sunset.
"It used to be a picture of us in Paris at the Eiffel Tower."
"Oh, yeah. I changed it," she shrugged.
Now, it was a picture of us from Disneyland in Hong Kong. Vanessa ran that whole trip, doing all the bookings, down to dinner reservations. The picture was one she took herself. She had on a Minnie Mouse ears headband with the red bow and she put Mickey Mouse ears on me too. The picture was right in front of the main castle that's the center point of the entire theme park and in the picture, she had her eyes squeezed shut under the bright sun, a wide grin still on her lips, as I kissed her cheeks, my eyes closed too. I had an arm going around her neck, pulling her closer to me.
Staring at the picture, I remembered the moment so vividly. More specifically, what happened after this picture.
She squealed loudly as I kissed her hard on the cheek and then rubbed her cheek as I pulled away. She tucked her phone into her pocket, staring at me. "If you kissed me like that at Disneyland, that too, just on my cheek, I wonder how you'll kiss me at our wedding. If we ever get married, you know," she shrugged. "Oh, look! The queue at that ride is smaller than it was earlier. We should get in line before it—"
I grabbed her by the small backpack she was carrying and pulled her back, holding her jaw and tilting her chin up as I leaned down and kissed her. She rested her hands on my chest, one hand fisting my shirt as she kissed me back. I kissed her slowly and leisurely until we had to break away.
She blinked a few times and then cleared her throat, fixing the hairband on her head. "That makes me believe you think of our wedding," she mumbled, "don't do things like that."
"Why?" I grabbed her hand and started walking towards the ride. "I do think of our wedding."
"You do?"
I nodded.
"Do you have a vow prepared?" she mused, teasing me.
"I do."
"Oh," she sang, "enlighten me."
I sighed and stared at her. "Shouldn't you wait till our wedding?"
"You should see if I remember it at our wedding. Tell me."
I stared at her while she smiled at the setting sun the way she smiles at me. "Do you remember it?" I asked. "The vow."
"In the next life, and the next, and the next... In every lifetime, I'll come find you." She faced me. "And even if everything changes, the way I love you won't... it never will," she recited it by memory alone.
I chuckled, "You do remember it."
"I promised I would," she grinned before I pecked her lips. "But you know," she continued, staring at the sunset again. "I don't think I just love you. That's not what I feel anymore."
"No?"
"No. And I read something the other day. You know, when we went to that old bookstore?"
I nodded, humming.
"I found a book. The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield. And there's a quote in there."
"Enlighten me."
She looked at me as she said it. "What I feel for you can't be conveyed in phrasal combinations; it either screams out loud or stays painfully silent, but I promise- it beats words. It beats worlds."
I really didn't know what to say after that.
She chuckled, taking my hand. "I can't be a poet like that, sorry. But I still tell you I love you and I hope that's enough. I really do, I fell in love with you. I know it wasn't real at first, this thing between us. But I fell in love with you between the charade. Between the lies."
"It's enough, Vanessa. It's always been enough, it always will be. Even if things started between the lies for us, I've never felt a love as true as ours."
She grinned as I leaned down and kissed her, securing my arms around her waist. I rested my forehead against hers after pulling away minutes later and she whispered against my lips, "Do you want to christen Venice one more time before we leave?"
I laughed, dropping my head to her shoulder and pressing a kiss against it. "Yes, I do. Of course, I do."
.
.
.
.
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Chapter 40
You guys it's not even funny how much I cried writing this. It's literally not funny how much this ending hurt my heart but how happy it made me to know that Aaron and Vanessa finally made it!
And that's the end, you guys. For Aaron and Vanessa. I PROMISE they will be in crossovers. Loads of them. Especially in my next book.
I just want to thank every single one of you readers. You all literally make me who I am by reading my books like this and it's you guys that I write for so all the love you guys show my books, my writing, and my characters, it really means the world to me when I say it does and I genuinely appreciate it.
All my love to every single one of you, and not just from me but from Aaron and Vanessa too.
Thank you guys for showing them so much love <3
See you in the next one <3
- Nikki